


stop and stare

by ElasticElla



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 11:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4476953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heimdall knows what many things look like: despair, tragedy, hope, entrapment, and betrayal have been coming more often than not from Midgard. He doesn’t like any of them, they all remind him of <i>her</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stop and stare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FreshBrains](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreshBrains/gifts).



> you mentioned Heimdall on your form and I've been meaning to give him a shot, so a random small ficlet for you X)

Heimdall knows what many things look like: despair, tragedy, hope, entrapment, and betrayal have been coming more often than not from Midgard. He doesn’t like any of them, they all remind him of _her_. The one he couldn’t stop watching when he knew he ought, instead allowing her to return his gaze across realms- Lorelei. 

He knows she only chose him out of usefulness and to spite his warrior sister, but the silken lies she whispers are even more beautiful than any truth. Before her, he had never seen a pretty lie, much less a perfect one. Heimdall isn’t used to seeing new things after all this time. 

He falls in love, hopeless and quick as a true stab. 

She licks her lips and tosses her hair under the desert sun. She turns to kiss her companion, and Heimdall knows he is lost. He has seen this before, and he grips his sword a little tighter and turns to look at another realm. 

Only once his thoughts are unclouded does he call for his sister, letting her know Lorelei has escaped. It doesn’t occur to him until much later, when Lorelei has been muzzled, that she wanted to fight Sif. It’s a sobering thought, few warriors are foolhardy enough to engage her in battle, fewer still wish it. Thor and the two of three warriors are the only ones who have sparred her and emerged without grave injury. It's a twisted puzzle, and no realm holds the answer. 

He knows where the answer is, forbids himself from looking into her cell. 

But the temptation only sweetens over time as he can't find any answer, only thickens when he thinks of her. Constellations from every land don't sparkle as they once did, and his vision doesn't seem quite as far reaching. Everything in him aches to see her cell, to see if it holds the answer. 

It doesn't. It holds naught. 

Shame and worry flash through him at the cell's apparent emptiness. Only when he looks harder, an odd task he isn't used to, does he notice the woman is bathing. And before he can look away, Lorelei meets his gaze with a sharp smile. 

(He doesn't need to see her lips to feel the gesture, doesn't need to hear her words to know they're trouble. The answer is on the tip of his tongue, closer than ever, but it remains evasive.)


End file.
